Cheney football settling into 3A world

Like everyone else on the planet, Cheney High School head football coach Bobby Byrd certainly hopes COVID and its wide-ranging effects are firmly and far away in life’s rearview mirror.

Even as the virus waned in 2021 allowing the return to football being played in front of fans, Cheney struggled through a 1-win, 9-loss season, its second in a transition to the 3A division of the Greater Spokane League.

But there was a silver lining. “The good thing last year we had a small senior class so quite a few juniors and sophomores got playing time,” Byrd said. There is strength and experience on both sides of the ball with 33 players back from 2021 suited up for training camp.

Byrd, a former Washington State University offensive lineman who played from 2003-07 for the Cougars under Bill Doba, picked on his favorite group of players — the offensive line — when accessing the strong points for his Blackhawks.

Cole Palmer played all over the line as a junior and even prior in his sophomore year and got some time in that spring season. “He’ll be kind of a good solid anchor for us,” Byrd said.

At the other tackle spot is Eli Axtell who Byrd said has “Not only physically grown, but (also) maturity wise and his football knowledge.” Axtell was a big role player past year, his coach said, but expects even a better year ahead.

In the trenches on defense, Matai Jarms-Odood’s name quickly rolled off Byrd’s tongue as a versatile performer at either defensive tackle or defensive end. “He’s been a standout for us up front. I’m looking for him to have a great senior year,” Byrd said.

Devon Perro is a transfer whom Byrd said, “When you talk about blue collar, your lunch pail kind of guy, he is that; he just transformed himself this offseason.”

Micah Ragaza-Bourassa is at middle linebacker and one Byrd calls quarterback of the defense. “Talk about a spark on defense,” Byrd said of Ragaza-Bourassa who also owns the team record in the weight room for squats at 550 pounds.

Offensively, the Blackhawks’ plan is to rely on senior quarterback Jakeb Vallance, a tall (6-foot, 4-inch) and lanky (200 pounds) senior.

“Great arm, pretty athletic,” Byrd said of his second-year starter. “(He’s) just great communicator and a good, level-headed voice in the huddle.”

Byrd, who took over as head coach in 2014 following Jason Williams, said he expects Cheney to offer a well-balanced attack both through the air and on the ground with a variety of sets.

For years it was thought that it was only a matter of time before Cheney High School outgrew its longtime 2A roots.

With the population growing at a swift rate across the West Plains — and the Cheney School District having as massive of a footprint as it does at over 370 square miles — it happened following the 2019 fall season.

That’s when a significant restructuring rolled former 2A Great Northern League into a new three-division Greater Spokane League that extends south all the way to Pullman and Clarkston.

“I hate to sound like a broken record (but) going into COVID didn’t help us,” Byrd said. But his team has weathered that initial rough road and emerges to where, “I feel very comfortable in competing with the 3 and 4As,” he said.

That seems to show as despite a two-year 3-13 GSL record, overall turnout is between 120 to 125 at all levels.

“The experience that our team got so young last year is just going to help us kind of carry on building our culture,” Byrd said. “I think going forward we’re gonna’ be able to compete. I’m looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity.”

Cheney runs full speed into the start of the 2022 season when the Blackhawks travel to Spokane to play at 2021 champion Gonzaga Prep on Friday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. Cheney’s home opener comes a week later, Sept. 9 vs. Ferris at Tom Oswald Field.

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].